Gratefully Exalt God’s Mercy (Part 2) – Romans 9:19–29

“God is God and I am not. I can only see a part of the picture he’s painting. God is God and I am man, so I’ll never understand it all. For only God is God.” Those are lyrics to a song from Steven Curtis Chapman, a singer songwriter whom I have long appreciated for his depth and sincerity, and the way in which his lyrics display his own growth in knowing and trusting God.

Such words from this particular song are imminently appropriate for our study of Romans 9. Paul knows that what he describes here about the ways of God presses the boundaries of our understanding and acceptance. But the very point of it is that we can and should trust in the God who is sovereign and good. God is indeed sovereign over everything and everyone, but we must understand that he is righteous in all his activity, whether in judgment or in mercy. Rightly embracing that only God is God shapes our understanding, our worship, and the way we live our lives. 

So let us pray together along these lines as we prepare to re-enter the text of Romans 9.

[PRAY]

In context Paul is explaining, with a broken heart, why so many Jews are rejecting God by rejecting Jesus. What does this all mean for God’s faithfulness to his promises and our ability to trust him? So Paul aims to confirm God’s sovereign activity and faithfulness to his promises in making a people for his possession, whether we be a remnant saved by faith from within Israel or Gentiles grafted in.

In the process, though, Paul wants to be sure that no one exalts themselves because they are a part of God’s people through faith in Jesus. He therefore highlights God’s sovereign mercy toward us who believe, so that we will…

Be humbled and united in exalting God’s great mercy.

That was our takeaway two weeks ago in Romans 9:14-18. I built that application for us from the immediate context within the broader context of the letter, and based on the two priorities Paul has in vv. 14-18. Namely, that…

God is perfectly righteous in his character and all his ways. (verse 14)

“Is there any injustice in God? May it never be.” And this is the foundational point for our understanding and trust in God. [Repeat] - Therefore we should…

Marvel at God’s mercy to undeserving people. For God is justified in judicially hardening sinners for the sake of his name. (verses 15-18)

As Paul continues this theme of God’s mercy, we see him now confront defiant intellectual objection and suggest instead that believers—vessels of mercy—should gratefully exalt God’s saving mercy toward us.

Romans 9:19–29 ESV

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²² What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴ even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” ²⁶“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ” ²⁷ And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, ²⁸ for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” ²⁹And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”

With what he has written here, this is what I believe Paul hopes God does in our hearts:

Instead of defiantly objecting, gratefully exalt God for his saving mercy.

We should not defiantly question God about his mercy or hardening (in vv. 14-18). God is not confined nor beholden to limited human conceptions about his character and ways. Instead, we must submit our understanding to what he has revealed of himself, and thank him for his mercy to us.

So why has Paul’s teaching about God’s hardening and mercy raised such an intellectual objection? Tom Schreiner explains, “Paul believes that God is absolutely sovereign and determines all things and at the same time posits that human beings are responsible for their choices and actions. […] The objection manifests a rebellious spirit that refuses to countenance a world in which God is absolutely sovereign and human beings are still responsible.” (Schreiner, BECNT Romans, 2nd ed.)

“In fact,” insists Douglas Moo, “Paul never offers—here or anywhere else—a logical solution to the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. […] Paul is content to hold the truths of God’s absolute sovereignty—in both election and in hardening—and of full human responsibility without reconciling them.” (Moo, NICNT Romans, Second Edition) 

So here’s a summary of what we believe and accept as a tension in Scripture that we do not think we can fully resolve to the satisfaction of our finite minds: Without being the author or perpetrator of sin, God sovereignly orchestrates all things, including salvation, while also holding humans responsible for their choices and actions. This is the position of our church and of our elders and teachers. God is sovereign in salvation, and we are accountable to him for our choices, and God is not the author of evil.

Now before Paul emphasizes again human responsibility for lack of belief (at 9:30ff), he stays with the theme of God’s sovereign mercy. Paul’s point becomes that it will not do to defiantly object when we should be gratefully exalting God for his saving mercy.

And I use the term ‘saving mercy’ because the specific content here, as well as the context, both bear out that Paul is discussing God’s saving mercy as opposed to his general mercy, just as Paul has explained God’s covenant love for his adopted children in a more particular sense than his general love for the world (meaning all humanity). Both things can be true without being equivalent.

Like the difference between hearing the ocean in a seashell versus being transported to the shores of the ocean itself, is the difference between acknowledging God’s ongoing general mercy versus being enraptured by God’s saving mercy in Christ Jesus. Paul hopes to deepen our appreciation for God’s saving activity toward us at this level of experiencing an ocean of mercy.

Let’s look into more specifics then to see how Paul drives home the point that we should be gratefully exalting God for such saving mercy toward us who believe.

We mustn’t rebelliously question God, the Potter who has all rights over his creatures. (19-21)

Note that Paul is not suggesting that questions that sincerely desire to comprehend something and learn from God are inappropriate. What Paul emphasizes here is when our questioning betrays a rebellious attitude and motivation. The issue is questioning that reveals an attitude of us thinking we know what is right for God to do or not do, and throwing that back in God’s face.

“You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?””

As the question or questions are rhetorical, Paul indicates that the antagonist thinks that he has Paul cornered here with logical objections that Paul cannot answer. One would expect, that if there were a simple logical answer, Paul would offer it here. Paul does not simply resolve the issue by emphasizing the necessity of human response in faith. Paul chooses not to emphasize our faith yet because he first defends the sovereign activity of a holy God. Note though that Paul will come back to the matter of faith response in the end of 9 and into chapter 10 (as we label them to give scriptures an address for common reference).

But rather than emphasizing human free will as a solution to explain the activity of God’s will, Paul doubles down with his own rhetorical questions to insist on the sovereign authority and character of the glorious God who does not answer to us, but us to him. “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” Or we might say, who are you to reply to God with a contrary assertion, to argue against God, when you are but a mere human?

We think of Job, who, from our human perspective, kind of had a right to object that he was living a generally righteous life and didn’t deserve that Satan should be allowed to make him suffer the way he did. But God’s answer to Job, when Job asks that God justify himself, is a list of rhetorical questions that demonstrates unequivocally that only God is God and Job is but his humble creature. When Job gets the point God makes, he responds in humble acceptance and silence.

Paul, making a similar point in these verses, goes straight into an illustration, and it’s a mental picture used various places in Scripture, used both corporately and individually. Romans 9:20b–21 “Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?”

Can the vessels legitimately talk back to God and complain that they are vessels common to all humanity, not chosen for a special place of honor? Here’s how I understand what Paul is saying up to this point in his illustration: The same lump of clay is humanity, and God has all rights to make us as he has made us, which means that all are dishonored (or common or ordinary) unless God so chooses to shape them into valued objects for honorable or special use. This is God’s prerogative. To call that into question is to only highlight further that we are simple, created beings who are foolish if we dare to defiantly question God’s character and ways.

Furthermore, as the plain context is a discussion of God’s mercy to make vessels of mercy from among Jews and Gentiles, it becomes even more clear as we proceed. One can already see, however, that it is by the grace of God that we exist at all, and it is only by undeserved mercy that God makes some vessels of honor. Paul dives more deeply into this as he continues.

But so far Paul makes clear that we mustn’t rebelliously question God, the Potter who has all rights over his creatures. God is not confined nor beholden to limited human conceptions about his character and ways. Instead, we must submit our understanding to what he has revealed of himself.

Pressing further into the illustration, Paul’s next significant rhetorical question makes the following assertion:

Instead, exalt God’s holy character and authority, who patiently endures vessels of wrath fit for destruction while making vessels of mercy fit for glory. (22-23)

What is left unstated in this long sentence is already assumed from the previous section. Who can question God’s authority to do so if God has acted in the following way? So Paul is making an assertion with this long question, but he does it with humility of “but what if” because he’s attempting to describe something of God’s causal motivation for doing that which brings him glory.

(v. 22) “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—”

God has created a world in which both his wrath and mercy display the glory of his character and his authority (here called his power). And Paul has declared that God is perfectly righteous in both. God is righteous in his wrath against sinners, and God is righteous in his mercy when he makes provision through Jesus for such mercy displayed. In fact, God’s mercy toward us who believe shines all the more brightly against this backdrop of deserved wrath for sin.

And here Paul suggests that, instead of God instantly pouring out his full wrath, He patiently endures (he patiently bears with) these vessels of wrath fit for destruction, in order to display the riches of his glory in making vessels of mercy fit for future glory. These vessels of wrath, which is the common condition of man because of his sin, Paul indicates are indeed therefore suited for the destruction that is coming. And the teaching of Scripture is that this destruction is not annihilation but the eternal “undoing” of humans in hell.

Paul showed early in Romans that unrighteousness and unresponsiveness to God’s self-revelation is the common condition of man. Therefore, we rightly deserve his judgment. That’s why I believe Paul’s emphasis in v. 22 is not attributing responsibility to God that we are fitted for destruction, but rather he emphasizes God patiently endures such vessels as he promotes his glory and makes vessels of mercy. 

Just so, God displays the riches of his glory against this backdrop of deserved wrath in making some vessels fit for future glory. The verb for prepared beforehand means to ‘make ready in advance,’ and it might relate to predestination, which Paul clearly teaches elsewhere (Rom 8:29-30). The idea here could also be that God has made ready (through Christ) believers (vessels of mercy) in advance of the future glory to be revealed in us. Either way, here the active voice and a different verb credits God with preparing these vessels of mercy beforehand for glory.

Again, although God is completely sovereign over death and destiny, Scripture teaches God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He desires that they should turn from their evil way, turn to him, and live (Ezek 33:11). Even so, in his sovereign justice and for his glory he endures vessels of wrath fit for destruction, in order that, from among mankind he might make for himself vessels of his mercy whom he has fitted for glory. And he himself receives all the glory, the utmost glory, for all these things.

Therefore, these cooperating truths that reveal God’s glory should cause us to exalt God’s holy character and authority. We should still rightly say here, within the context of this letter and all of Paul’s ministry, that his true desire is that all who hear this gospel of God through the Lord Jesus should respond in saving faith and becomes vessels of mercy fit for glory. Paul’s defense of God’s character and sovereign activity does not negate human responsibility. Have you responded, are you responding, with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be your salvation from the just wrath that you deserve? Are you a vessel of mercy prepared beforehand for glory?

If so, then as Paul indicates in completing this thought, we should…

Gratefully rejoice that God has called us, undeserving sinners from among Jews and Gentiles, to be vessels of his mercy. (24-29)

Notice whom Paul describes as these vessels of mercy: “even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?” Again, as we’ve explained before, this is not God’s general call or universal invitation (which he also does through Christ Jesus). This is his particular call (an effectual call) to those who are indeed responding in faith to belong to him, to be his adopted children.  And remember that the emphasis here is on mercy. It is not something we deserve, but it is a gift of God’s grace and mercy that he should make us vessels of mercy fit for glory.

Even so, Paul is also emphasizing here and in this entire section of chapters 9-11 that God is making a people for himself that includes Gentiles who believe, as well as Jews who truly believe. Neither has an advantage on God’s mercy. Mercy is mercy. Though the Jews have many advantages because of God’s former covenants and self-revelation to them, they have always needed to respond in faith to his mercy and not trust in their works to save and restore them to God (see Rom 9:30-32).

To make the point that this is God’s doing, and that it is based on God’s mercy not our merit, Paul quotes two places in the words of God’s prophets to Israel. The first is from Hosea: As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”

Paul extends the meaning of this statement which was about unfaithful Israel whom he sent into exile, giving hope to those who have faith in God that he has also made promises to restore them to dwell again in his presence. From this quote, though, Paul seems to also suggest God’s inclusion of the Gentiles as well. Whether it be Israelites disobeying God or Gentiles ignoring God, it is all mercy that God should restore us and make us his people. In his mercy God makes vessels from among those who deserve to be “not my people” into “sons of the living God.” I repeat: Though we deserve in our rebellion for God to say of us “not my people,” yet he has mercifully made us into “sons of the living God.” Notice that this status of ‘beloved’ by God, to whom he is displaying his saving mercy, applies to both the saved group as a whole (‘my people’) as well as to the individuals who make up that group (‘sons of the living God’).

The second quotation, which comes from Isaiah, has a similar effect of emphasizing undeserved mercy alongside God’s activity to save some unto himself, even though they are part of a group (Israel) that has declined into idolatrous sin like Sodom and Gomorrah and deserves the same fate of destruction.

“And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.””

The first quote emphasizes God’s mercy in the midst of judgment to save a remnant from within Israel. The second quote highlights who it is who is ultimately responsible for this mercy. In both warning and reassurance to the hearers, Isaiah and Paul confirm that it is God who executes his wrath against sin, and it is God too who preserves a saved remnant from among Israel, in faithfulness to his promises.

Those who are Israelites are meant to relate to this warning and reassurance directly, and Gentiles indirectly. Whether Jew or Gentile, we are undeserving sinners who have merited wrath but are receiving mercy, so we ought to gratefully rejoice that God has called us to be vessels of his mercy.

Paul’s overall point is that…

Conclusion: Instead of defiantly objecting to God’s sovereign activity, we should gratefully exalt God for his saving mercy.

Paul here rebukes the attitude of creatures presuming to judge the ways of the Creator. Instead, we who recognize God’s mercy toward us should trust God with a growing depth of humility, gratitude, and love.

We should let this perspective on God’s mercy impact us like traveling to outer space impacts most astronauts. They’re not complaining that they don’t get to see God’s whole universe, but rather they experience a unique perspective of their lives as they walk the earth.

Even so, we are humbled by God’s sovereignty so that we exalt him instead of ourselves. We are humbly grateful of the value he has placed on us in creating humanity, and we should be still more grateful for his mercy to make us vessels of mercy. We should view others on earth with compassion, as people to whom God sent his Son, as God makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, the rain to fall on the just and the unjust (Mt 5:45). These are people who need to hear the message of God’s mercy in Christ Jesus. And our renewed and expanded love for God should cause us to love one another with a unique unity in the family of God, as vessels of his mercy whom he has prepared for glory.

PRAY

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